At last weekend's West Point Invitational, a tournament comprised of all D-I teams except for Bowdoin and Amherst, the women's tennis team showed that its members have the grit and talent to play at any level.
The team will need to take that same level of desire to Worcester, Mass., this weekend if it wants to succeed against D-I Holy Cross of the Patriot League. In fact, the Polar Bears got a sneak peek of Holy Cross at West Point, as the Crusaders were represented in both the singles and doubles brackets.
For the second week in a row, captain Kellen Alberstone '13 was the star for the Polar Bears in singles action. Last weekend, Alberstone defeated No. 1 Holy Cross singles player Molly Montgomery in a possible preview of this upcoming weekend's match before falling in a highly competitive match to Amherst's Jordan Brewer.
In arguably one of the best matches of the No. 1 singles bracket, Alberstone lost the first set to Brewer 2-6 before winning the second set 6-3. She ultimately dropped the match in the decisive and thrilling third set 8-10.
On the doubles side, two duos excelled over the weekend. The combo of Chantalle Lavertu '13 and first year Emma Lewis defeated five D-I doubles pairs en route to placing fifth in the tournament's No. 1 doubles bracket. Lavertu and Lewis defeated pairs from the New Jersey Institute of Technology (8-6), Bucknell (8-5) Florida Dominion (9-7), and Sacred Heart (8-6).
The other doubles pair that found success was that of captain Hannah Hoerner '12 and first year Kate Winningham.
While Hoerner and Winningham eventually lost to No. 2 doubles bracket champion West Point, they easily handled their matches against Fordham and Holy Cross, winning 8-1 and 8-0, respectively. These successes came as no surprise to Hoerner.
"[Kate and I] are both aggressive players who like to be at the net, so our styles compliment each other," Hoerner said. "We worked really well together as a team."
While the fall season is comprised primarily of individual tournaments, it allows for critical practice and a tune up for the main NCAA season that rolls around in the spring.
The match this upcoming weekend at Holy Cross should be a good gauge to see how the team is looking toward spring.
"It looks like it will be a fun match and good practice," Hoerner said.